And by the way.....

It's probably time Jonathan slowed down a bit.

He came back from the cattle yesterday saying one of the cows was pooping very strangely......turned out it was a calf.

And then this morning he asked me what that Kite was doing next to a sheep.  Well, it was a lamb.

We love telling the story of when Jonathan's father looked up on a hillside and commented on what a good looking herd of cattle was up there......they were pig huts.

And there has been a pair of swallows flying around the house all day!

We've Got to Stop......

I just had a flurry of e mails from quilting friends and we were all worrying about not accomplishing anything - me included.  I keep starting stuff and then moving onto something else.  Twice last week I put the hoover in the hall ready to do a bit of housework.  Then, come evening, after stepping round it all day Jonathan asked me if I wanted him to put it away, and I said he might as well.

Anyway, after all the e mails I went upstairs to get something, looked out the window, and decided there was a lesson there:

Just snoozing in the warm sun.

We are all so worried about not being busy when we should all just ease into a slower pace and enjoy it. 

Spring is coming along beautifully - I had to deliver newsletters around the village yesterday (wearing gloves) and thought everyone's gardens looked so pretty.

Up in the wood the Bluebells are out.

All the trees are in blossom and the Tulips everywhere are beautiful this year.

I'm so pleased with the lovely Wallflowers Eileen gave me back in the Autumn

this picture doesn't really do them justice - their scent is glorious.  My mother used to plant loads of Wallflowers every Autumn and her garden would burst into life every spring.

So really, I think we need to just kick back and enjoy taking time to 'smell the roses'.

Right, got to get on now: I need to get the washing in, then do the ironing, hoover the house and if I have time I'll get some gardening done.

Still Bleating on.....

It's all about sheep around here.  Lambing is coming to an end and the first lot have been moved out into the big field.

Well, Easter came and went very quickly - Hot Cross Buns

Easter Eggs

and now we're back to sheep, sheep and more sheep.

My little pen of four lambs has now increased to 12 - and it isn't really a lot of fun, although thank Goodness we've had such lovely weather.

Four times a day I have to wash up all the little bottles

The aim is to get all the lambs confidently drinking from the bottles on a rack, but because they come to me in dribs and drabs (no orphans, just rejected by their mums) they are all at different stages, so instead of me looking serenely on as they fill themselves up, this is the reality

all pushing and shoving and trying to get the bottles off of each other

But slowly they are getting the hang of it, and yesterday I managed to get four on the rack

and this morning eight,

so things are improving.

As far as the war with the rooks is going, Jonathan set up an ingenious tunnel into the chicken house that we hope will be so daunting they won't risk going in.

It certainly terrified the chickens - only one dared to come out this morning.

Away from the animals I am persevering with my Skype piano lessons.  By the second lesson I managed to tape the phone up to the piano quite successfully, and I thought all was going well.  My teacher said she was having trouble hearing me though, and asked where the microphone was on my phone.  Well, I had no idea, and she suggested it could be on the bottom.  Well, off course it is, and turning the phone onto the side meant she could actually hear my beautiful playing.  This solved another of life's mysteries for me too.  I'd always wondered why young people always hold their phones horizontally when they are talking to someone - I thought it was a strange affectation, but now I know they are talking into the microphone.  I shall now be far more patient when my mother tries to talk to me through the TV remote.

What else am I doing in these long, isolated days?

A bit of knitting

with thanks to Ros for finding me a nice, simple sweater pattern,

a bit of quilting

and a bit of crochet

which is well past it's due date and I need to get finished.

Good Morning!

Well, I woke up at about 5.30 and lay in bed looking out at the sunrise on the frosty fields, and then, as I watched, a heavy mist descended.  I decided it was time to get up and get all my morning jobs done. 

It's funny how the bigger picture has become so different very quickly, but life on a farm keeps pretty much to the usual routine.  Every morning my first task is to let out the chickens and feed them.

I'd like to say that I collect the eggs too but either their laying has become extremely sporadic or something is getting there before me.

NEWS FLASH  - this blog is taking so long to load that I leave it and go off and do other things while it is working.  Well, I just went to look out the window and saw a rook with something big and white in his beak, sitting on the fencing around the chicken run.  I watched as it flew down into the grass and then stealthily went outside.  He saw me and flew into the geese field so I ran down and he flew off.  I went to where he had been and there it was - a whole egg.  I could hardly believe it - so they HAVE been stealing the eggs.  This means war....

Next I head over to the geese - let them out and give them some corn.

Then take the dogs out for a walk around the garden

 

And finally out to feed the pet lambs

So that's the morning routine - all done by 8.00am.

And then I figure out what to do with the rest of the day....and that can take all day.  Although, following the News Flash above, I shall probably spend all day staking out the chicken house.

Discombobulated

describes exactly how I'm feeling at the moment.  George got back from New Zealand so I am now under house arrest. 

I spend a lot of my time sitting around like this

 

not sleeping, just sort of flopping on a chair in the kitchen, hanging my head in despair.

Having obeyed the rules and not stockpiled, I had to go to the supermarket on Monday to get two weeks' worth of food in because I was picking up George the next day and knew we'd have to isolate.  I was thrilled when I got there because the shelves were full!  I managed to get everything I needed and made my way triumphantly to the till.  Sadly I had to put most of it back because most of the items were limited to three per person.

Feeling a bit concerned about what I was going to do, I noticed an ad from Quintin Catering, who catered for Victoria's wedding, and immediately ordered a box delivery from him.  I was so pleased when Jake dropped this off hours later

An abundance of food so we are sorted!

Also, the chicken have started laying finally - a maximum of 3 a day, so we have (a few) eggs.

I walk over and check on the calves everyday - the twins are doing well

I haven't felt the need to start knitting a noose for Jonathan yet, although sometimes it gets a bit close.  Like when he's charging round the kitchen shouting 'Where's the number for PJS?'  I pointed it out to him.....

The geese are scrapping like crazy one minute and the next

And I've done a bit of crochet, a bit of quilting, and a bit of walking, a bit of gardening, a bit of everything and a lot of nothing!

Isolation.....

Well, I'm not really in isolation but I may as well be.  No workshops until....well, just until.  No social events.  No Mother and Toddler group.  Time seems to stretch on and on.

Calving is coming along nicely.  We are well over half way through now and I walk over most days (weather permitting) to see what's happening. The twins have got a lot bigger

And I arrived just after this one had been born.  He got up and went straight to the wrong mother!

It's so funny when they are a bit older and go haring around the barn in the late afternoon.

Not long till lambing starts so I want all this horrible, wet, cold and dark weather well out of the way.

I've also been enjoying looking at the polo ponies in the field across the road from us

On Tuesday I thought I'd better get some food and stuff in - I sat down to make a list but couldn't really think of anything and only got as far as

then I realised I was just procrastinating so took myself off to Waitrose in Wantage and thought I'd do my usual browse and buy.  I was astounded!  The shelves were completely and utterly empty.  I know the media has been going on about it but in Wantage?  They didn't even have laundry conditioner.  I've never seen anything like it.  So I came back home with two onions.

I fared better in Hungerford yesterday - got some meat supplies from Christian Alba the butcher and the rest in Tesco's.  The only thing I couldn't get was potatoes so that wasn't so bad.

I also got my Mother's Mothering Sunday flowers from Martin and the Magpie - I've mentioned this Florist before because I think he's great.  Her little basket of Grape Hyacinths arrived yesterday and she was thrilled with them.

I think I've adapted to this slow pace of life now.  I've put together a small quilt which reminded me that before all this madness, in the last workshop, Helen finally managed to put her quilt blocks together.  We were all so pleased for her - her first quilt and it's so pretty

Another happy story is that we had a Repair Café in our Village Hall the other week - various volunteers put themselves forward and we could take along anything in the hopes that someone would be able to repair it.  I took along a little musical table that my father had brought back from his travels many years ago and which was now in a very sorry state. I really thought it was beyond repair and so was absolutely thrilled yesterday when I got a call from Jon Hing to say my table was ready - it really looks so beautiful.

And that's it really.....

Good News on a Rainy Day

So, that heifer we've been watching and waiting on for the last two and a half weeks (although I was unconvinced; she looked too skinny to me) has finally had her calf

and when I walked over to have a look at it there was a surprise in store - a twin!

Mum has rather shocking eyes.... perhaps a side effect of calving.

Anyway - some rather exciting news on what was otherwise a very wet, dreary, grey day.  Just the sort of day, in fact, when I would prefer to hunker down under a beautiful quilt like the one Frankie was making in the workshop the other day

only I can't - because it's tiny....

I love hexagons, the smaller the better, and love the ones' Barbara is putting together for a seat cover

I'd love to start working with them again but I MUST NOT - not until I've finished these blooming Magic Lanterns:

and just to make me feel even less productive than I am, Ros showed us what she's working on at the moment - the Attic 24 Dahlia blanket which has moved into shades that are a bit on the bright side for us but which we will think will be less startling as the stripes turn darker

and then she produced this masterpiece in the making

Frankly, all we could do was gasp.........